On Wed, 16 Nov 2005 09:59:16 -0500 in Al wrote:
With kovachii, I am still a bit confused as to the order it all happened. I
don't think he was intentionally smuggling in the manner your hypothetical
example suggests it is done.

I have always assumed he had the correct specialized permits to
import/export already classified Phrags and that he broke the law kind of by
accident because it was an undescribed piece of plant material and shouldn't
have left Peru, no matter what kind of permit he had. I have always kind of
believed that the issue started when Peru discovered one of their native
plants had made it into the US to be described by a US authority and that
until then, nobody realized the treaty had this kind of gray area in it that
would allow undescribed material to be exported so easily. It has always
seemed to me that he was in a kind of gray area and not at all doing what
you describe below as smuggling. But my assumptions are probably too
simplified.

He and Selby broke the law, (as decided by the outcome of the court case)
but what should they have done differently? What would have been the
correct course of action for an American plant collector in Peru to take
after discovering a new species of Phrag? What should Selby have done when
this unimaginably serendipitous piece of plant material dropped in their
lap?

Get someone else to bring in the plant material and be the person
the government deems to take care of the confiscated plant material?

For our paper writer, are your studies also covering the law
of unintended consequences?
--
Chris Dukes
Suspicion breeds confidence -- Brazil